Billionaire entrepreneur Joe Mansueto is buying the Waldorf Astoria Chicago, a year after its lender seized control of the 215-key Gold Coast hotel in foreclosure proceedings.
The founder of Morningstar is paying $54 million for the luxury property at 11 E. Walton Street, according to Crain’s. The seller is Walton Street Capital.
The total debt on the luxury hotel amounts to about $90 million, Crain’s reported. A Walton Street debt fund took control of the hotel from Chicago hotelier Laurence Geller and Wanxiang America Real Estate Group in September 2019. Walton Street had been a junior lender on the $112 million acquisition loan Geller and Wanxiang secured in 2015 for the purchase.
The deal with Mansueto for the 60-story hotel will wipe out Walton’s equity in the building plus about 20 percent of the $67 million loan that Wells Fargo originated for the 2015 purchase, according to the report. Wells will also provide the debt for Mansueto’s acquisition; Lodging Capital Partners is a minority investor in the venture.
Among his holdings, Mansueto owns the Wrigley Building — which he acquired for $255 million in 2018 — along with the 297-unit Belden-Stratford apartments, which he bought for $106 million the same year.
Recent appraisals have slashed hotel values, including the Palmer House Hilton and the 610-room JW Marriott, according to Crain’s. [Crain’s] — Orion Jones